


Our Future

by ServantOfMischief



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Broom Wielding Hero, F/M, Fluff, Funny, Good Things Only, Happy, Itori leaning on Uta, Itori realizing everything is going to be okay, Knitting, Maternity clothes, Pregnancy, Short Stories, Spiders, The Fourth Part That Was Never Supposed To Exist, Uta being good to Itori, lamaze class, ultrasound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-10-15 17:10:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17532848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ServantOfMischief/pseuds/ServantOfMischief
Summary: A series of short-stories of nice and silly happenings since Itori figures out she's pregnant.





	Our Future

**Author's Note:**

> This is literally me attempting to apologize for "Your Name".

Itori is starting to show a rather nice bump on her stomach. Uta is, as he was last time as well, utterly fascinated with it. Whenever he has free time, he grabs a hold of her and presses either his hands or his ear to the bump.

 

“You won’t feel _or_ hear anything yet.” Itori complains in the beginning, but as time passes by and the bump grows bigger, Uta gleefully expresses that he can hear a heartbeat. He absolutely loves that and can’t get enough of it. By the time she awakens in the morning, he’s already there, eyes wide as he grins. In the beginning it had startled her, now she’s so used to it she nearly jumps in surprise the few times she wakes up alone.

 

She never likes waking up alone.

 

Like this morning, for example. She stretches and finds Uta’s side of the bed empty. Neither can she feel his weight on her stomach. It’s weird and she doesn’t like it. She sits up, throws the sheets off and aims to find her lover, when the door opens. Uta’s standing there with a cup of coffee, and grins.

 

“Great, you’re up. Get dressed.”

 

“What for?” Itori questions, feeling actually quite grumpy. He raises a brow, notices the slight snap in her voice and points to the calendar they’ve hung up by the bedroom door. It’s marked with a special date, and Itori’s eyes widen in realization.

 

“Oh.” Today is a big day, for the both of them. They’ve both been excited for today, and Uta is nearly bouncing on his feet as he gestures for her to get up.

 

“So, come on now.” He turns around and leaves again, and Itori gathers some clothes before she heads to the bathroom. When she comes out, Uta’s got breakfast prepared for them. The synthetic food has become better. It still leaves a foul aftertaste in their mouths, but at the very least the taste isn’t terrible from the moment they take a bite. Uta has, at least, stopped sticking his tongue out in a childish display of what he thinks of it. That in itself is an accomplishment.

 

The waiting room in the hospital isn’t the most comfortable place for Itori. The smell of it all… Humans say it smells clean, sterilised. Itori thinks it smells like death. Without even knowing it, she tightens the grip on her shirt.

 

“You know, you could buy maternity clothes. I’d like to see you wearing those.” Uta says, noticing her discomfort and attempting at subtly dispelling it.

 

“Why? Your clothes still fit me.” She retorts, looking down at the harem pants and baggy t-shirt she’s borrowing and he shrugs.

 

“Well, I don’t enjoy doing all that laundry.” It’s a terrible excuse, because they share that workload.

 

“I thought you liked me wearing your clothes.”

 

“Actually,” Uta leans close to whisper, “I enjoy you _without_ clothes.” She rolls her eyes and rests her head on his shoulder.

 

“Calm down, Romeo-“

 

“Itori-san?” They look up, sees a doctor look up from a clipboard and look at each other.

 

“That’s our cue, I guess.” The doctor seems nice, if not a little bit nervous. Uta guesses she doesn’t work much with ghouls but refrains from teasing her and making her more nervous. Itori isn’t comfortable with being here, so he has to keep himself in check.

 

But he really, really wants to tease, he really does because it would be so fun to see the human squirm.

 

Well inside, the doctor explains to them what she’s going to do, and what they’ll see.

 

“If all goes well, I’ll find the heartbeat too.” Uta nearly scoffs because he’s already heard it, but Itori clenches his hand so hard he actually winces instead. The doctor seems to be a bit confused, but instead of asking she just moves on to bring the equipment over to the bed Itori’s sitting on. The doctor asks Itori to pull her shirt up, and then she smears cold gel over her stomach. Itori sees Uta look at her, tilting his head quizzically and she swallows.

 

“I’m okay.” She tells him. “I’m okay. Just nervous.”

 

“All first-time parents are.” The doctor says, trying to clear the awkward tension in the air. It only serves to make it worse because of the redhead’s history with having humans near her stomach, but Itori bites her tongue because this human doesn’t know what happened years ago. All she knows is that Itori is not a mother yet. Uta keeps from commenting on it as well. It won’t help Itori in any way.

 

“Here we are.” Both ghouls look towards the monitor, and pause. They can hear the heartbeat, it sounds as strong as ever, but now they have a slight outlining of the baby inside her womb. Both are speechless, because neither of the two have ever seen an ultrasound of a baby before. They know humans always make a big deal out of it, but never understood why. Now they do. To be able to see who it is they are waiting for… It is incredible.

 

“That’s it?” Uta asks quietly. “That’s our baby?” The doctor nods enthusiastically, feeling a bit braver by the ghouls’ silent amazement, reaching forward to point at the screen.

 

“That’s the head right there. Do you want to know the gender?” Itori nods, because she really wants to know. What other reason does she need?

 

“Let’s see…” The doctor moves the device on Itori’s stomach a bit, before grinning. “Looks like you two have got a little girl on the way.”

 

“ _Yes!_ ” Both females look at Uta, who is clenching his fists, looking rather happy.

 

“What? I wanted a girl.” He shrugs. The doctor chuckles, before moving to print out the picture. She’s sure Itori and Uta want a copy, and she’s right. When they come home, Uta is literally bouncing again, just as excited now as he was before they left for the doctor, but Itori is tired, so she lays down on the couch, staring at the picture. She falls asleep clutching it. When she wakes up, she has two pieces of paper in her hands. One is the picture they were given by the doctor, the second is a charcoal-sketch. She smiles and hangs them both up on the refrigerator.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Lamaze classes are proving to be incredibly hilarious. Renji and his girlfriend are taking the same class as them, and Itori finds it very enjoyable to sit with someone she knows, because the moment it got out that she and Uta are ghouls, the other parents in the class shied away from them. Seven years, but people are still afraid. Well, Itori still doesn’t like any humans coming near her stomach either, so she guesses she can understand. She looks up when another few couples enters, couples she’s never seen in this class before, and she realizes that there are quite the few ghouls in this Lamaze class now. It was just her and Uta in the beginning, now there are five more couples. Intriguing. Ghouls are really doing their best to continue the peace and integrate into society, aren’t they?

 

Saya, Renji’s girlfriend, is a nice enough woman, Itori thinks. She is polite when she needs to be, but stubborn too. Itori guesses that’s why Renji is with her.

 

“Renji, I’m fine, you’re the one who needs to breathe.” The female ghoul tells her boyfriend quietly, so only ghouls can hear her voice. “I’m feeling okay, so don’t fret. Let’s rather learn from this, yeah?”

 

“This is rather fun, isn’t it?” Uta hums from his seat behind Itori as the redhead leans back against him, using his bent legs as armrests.

 

“Is it a boy or girl, Saya-chan?” Itori asks, looking over at the dark-haired woman who shrugs.

 

“We want to be surprised.”

 

“Becoming pregnant wasn’t surprise enough?” The other ghoul laughs at that.

 

“Very. But you know, I’m in no hurry. We’ll know when they come out.”

 

“Hey, hey, Renji-kun, have you heard your kid’s heartbeat? Have you?” Uta leans closer to his friend who rolls his eyes and looks away. Uta turns his gaze to Saya who smirks at him before looking up at Renji.

 

“Well, Renji, have you?” She teases and he grumbles something intelligible.

 

“What’s with our men and baby heartbeats?” Itori asks Saya who shrugs.

 

“I don’t know. But I think if I could lean down and actually reach, I’d want to hear it too.” Saya admits and Itori laughs. Then the woman leading the class enters, and they all introduce themselves to the new arrivals.

 

“I’m Uta, and this is Itori-san, and we’re expecting our first. It’s a little girl.” He says proudly as he rubs Itori’s stomach. The way he phrases it makes Itori wonder if he wants more, but dismisses the thought. One baby at a time, she thinks as she looks around. Even if they had been unable to smell who the ghouls are in the room, it can easily be seen. The pregnant ghouls all sit closely with their partners, either in their laps or leaning against them like Itori is against Uta. The closeness the ghoul couples exhibit is much more than is normal amongst the humans. But ghouls have grown up differently than the humans as well. Whatever hope they had at relationships never lasted long, so they grow up learning to grasp and enjoy what closeness they can. The humans have it a bit easier. They have the time to get to know each other better, they don’t _have_ to make a bet on it all.

 

“Very good, Uta-san.” The teacher says and Uta grins before the woman turns towards Renji and Saya.

 

“We’re Saya and Renji. This is our first too, but we don’t know the gender. We want to keep it a surprise.” Saya says as Renji ducks his head to nuzzle her neck and tightens his grip on her.

 

“Don’t mind him, he doesn’t talk much.” Saya says as she reaches behind herself to run her hands through his hair in a soothing and calm gesture.

 

“Thank you, Saya-san.” The teacher smiles kindly and moves on. Itori thinks that the lady must be quite used to ghouls coming to these classes over the last few years. Either that, or she is _very_ professional.

 

“I like these classes.” Itori tells the lady once it’s over, and the human smiles.

 

“I’m glad. Do you find it educating?”

 

“I find it comforting.” Itori admits. Uta waits for her by the door with Renji and Saya, and notices how the human couples, who usually wait for the ghouls to leave first, glance their way, perhaps curious as to what a ghoul’s views of the classes are.

 

“It’s nice to have a place where we ghouls also can go to be explained ways of making it all so much easier, without having to worry about being hunted and having our children taken away from us. It’s comforting. I hope you’ll continue to have ghouls in your class. You don’t seem to care what we are and take care of us too.” The human is speechless as Itori offers her a short bow before heading over to her companions.

 

“Wasn’t that a nice thing of you to say? It sounded like something Kaneki-kun could come up with.” Uta teases as he moves aside to let her out first.

 

“Shut up or you’ll never be able to be a dad again.”

 

“Ah, the return of Grumpy Itori-ow!” He hobbles out on one leg, as the redhead had promptly stepped on his foot with a sharp heel.

 

“How are you still wearing those?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Itori’s sitting on the couch, and Uta is sketching in his notepad. Itori is reading a magazine, not aware that Uta is sketching her. He likes the maternity clothes on her. It had been a battle in itself to help her find any, and leave his clothes alone. The overall dungaree looks really cute on her, he thinks, he hopes she’ll wear it more often, or get a few pairs more. He pauses, puts down the sketchpad and leaves the room, going down to his shop. As engrossed Itori is in her magazine, she won’t realize he’s gone for a while yet. And he’s right. Nearly a whole hour passes by before she realizes she’s alone in the room.

 

“U-chan?” She calls out, but he doesn’t respond. She looks around the apartment, but finds him nowhere, so she descends the stairs.

 

“U-chan? Are you here?” And as she descends the last few steps and turns right, she sees him perched on his desk, looking up at her with an expression she can only describe as a deer caught in the headlights. With a pair of knitting pins in his hands and a half-done leg of whatever it is that he’s making. She raises a brow, expecting an answer from him and he lowers the creation in his lap.

 

“I’m learning how to knit?”

 

“Why are you phrasing it as a question?” She laughs as she walks over. “Where are the instructions? What are you making?”

 

“A full-body suit.”

 

“In baby pink and pitch black?” She holds up the yarn and he blinks.

 

“But… They have to know she’s my girl.” Itori is pretty sure they’ll know the baby is his anyways, even if he doesn’t dress her up in black. At the very least he’s added another colour than black, she’ll give him props for that. She takes a seat on the chair and rests her chin in her palms.

 

“When did you start knitting?”

 

“Today. I think it’s going well.” He says, pulling the instructions up and glancing over them, then looking over what he’s already knitted.

 

“It seems like I’m doing okay.”

 

“I’m glad you’re the one doing this. I’m pretty sure I’d mess it up.” Itori sighs and Uta nods sagely.

 

“Oh yeah, you have no talent what-so-ever within crafts.” He really should have anticipated her overturning the desk with him on it the moment his words registered in her brain.

 

“Ouch!”

 

“That’s what you get!” She exclaims, turning the chair around and crossing her arms over her chest. He pushes the desk off of himself, rights it up and puts down the knitting onto it before walking around to look at Itori. She responds by stomping her feet and turning the chair around. For the first time since he bought the chair, Uta questions his thinking behind buying a swivel chair. He sighs, grabs her thighs as he kneels down rests his head in her lap, looking up at her with that expression that can melt away any anger. He looks utterly adorable, but she fights to keep the scowl in place. He edges closer, mouth forming into a pout as he presses his nose to her stomach.

 

Then he jerks, just as Itori feels a dull throb in her stomach. He looks up at her, wide-eyed, and she slowly places a hand on her stomach. Uta presses his cheek to it again and feels it again.

 

“Is she _kicking?!”_ Itori grins too, nodding excitedly.

 

“Yes!” Uta can’t stop pressing himself against her stomach, feeling the kicks hitting him.

 

“She’s real strong!”

 

“Keep on, kiddo! Your dad’s a jerk and deserves to be kicked!” That makes him pull back a bit, pouting up at her.

 

“Hey now…”

 

 

* * *

 

 

It’s way past midnight, but Itori can’t sleep. She feels restless, even though she is tired. Uta is happily slumbering away, and she doesn’t have the heart to wake him up. Her mood has been terrible the last few days and he’s practically bent over backwards to please her. She imagines that right now the highlights of his day are when he’s sleeping and not conscious of her emotions. Well, that made her feel bad again. She glances to the kitchen table, sees the almost finished body-suit for the baby. It’s been a slow process, considering his commissions and everything else that’s been happening, but it’s almost done.

 

She knew the mood swings would return now that she is in her third trimester, but this is ridiculous. She sniffs, feels her eyes water and huffs, attempting at banishing them with being annoyed with the whole situation. She’s done this before, she knows that everything is as it should be, she’s actually better off this time because she doesn’t have to fear the CCG finding her, or her lover and coming at them with grotesque construct of the remains of a fellow ghoul.

 

She can’t help the feeble chuckle escaping her. When was the last time she thought of a ghoul as a fellow person?

 

No, trying to quell the tears isn’t working for her right now. She doesn’t even know why they’re coming, and that’s what annoys her.

 

“Itori-san?” She turns and sees Uta rub his eyes as he exits the bedroom.

 

“I’m sorry, did I wake you up?” She can at least be a little considerate, after all, can’t she? He shakes his head though as he walks over to her.

 

“What’s wrong?” She blinks, before shaking her head.

 

“Nothing’s wrong. It’s just hormones, I guess.” He hums before reaching up and wiping at the few tears that had escaped.

 

“I don’t think it’s healthy to hold it in, though.” He might be right, but she doesn’t know what is bothering her enough to cause this kind of reaction, so she just wraps her arms around him and buries her face in his chest.

 

“Just hug me, yeah?” And he does, as best he can, because her stomach is starting to get really big. He starts swaying, bringing her with. There is no music, no melody, but the patting of their bare feet on the floor is enough to cause a rhythm they fall in to, and Itori enjoys the soothing moves. It actually helps, as she sighs and closes her eyes, feels one of Uta’s hands on her back to keep her going along with him, the other stroking her head.

 

The baby kicks, and she groans, and Uta laughs.

 

“Uncomfortable?”

 

“I was very comfortable, until she kicked.”

 

“Do you want to try and lie down?” She nods, and lets him lead her back to the bedroom and they lie down beneath the covers. The baby is apparently not going to sleep though.

 

“She’s really lively in the middle of the night.” Itori mutters, wincing. Uta says nothing, just lays a hand on her stomach. The kicks are instantly aimed at the hand. Itori wonders if the baby can actually feel the warmth from her father but dismisses the thought. There is absolutely no way that is possible, right?

 

“Hey, did we ever discuss names?” Uta suddenly asks, and Itori shakes her head.

 

“No. Why, you got something?”

 

“Maybe?”

 

“Let’s hear it.” Itori says.

 

“Shiori, maybe?” Itori tests the name. It’s a nice sounding name, and she’s got no names to counter his suggestion with. Shiori, Shiori, Shiori. Yes, it sounds nice, she likes it. So she nods, and smiles and Uta leans down towards her stomach.

 

“You hear that, Shiori-chan? Your mommy’s tired, do you mind going to sleep too?” And slowly, the kicking stop. Itori gapes at him as Uta looks up at her proudly.

 

“She’s already a good listener.”

 

“How in the- There is no way.” Itori mutters as Uta pulls himself up to her again, nuzzling into her shoulder.

 

“Time to sleep, Itori-san.”

 

“How-“

 

“Time to sleep.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

The shriek that Uta emits makes Itori nearly trip over her own feet as she leaves the bathroom, towel-drying her hair. There are few things that make Uta sound like that, and just in case, Itori grabs a broom and moves into the open living-room slash kitchen area. She sees Uta perched on the counter, eyes wide as he looks around wildly.

 

Oh yeah, they have a code red.

 

“Where?” She asks, lifting her broom.

 

“I don’t know!” He squeaks. “I can’t find it!” His short hair flutters as he turns his head left and right rapidly. The way his hands clench the counter makes her think that one of the two are going to break. Itori knows that the first to give in and break will be the counter, not Uta’s fairly white knuckles. So she moves around, pulls chairs and tables away to lure the intruder out, and then turns sharply when Uta makes that same ear-piercing sound again.

 

“There! It’s over there!” He points towards the couch and Itori sees the spider crawl across the floor. It is actually quite big, she thinks as she wields the broom like a mighty warrior and brings it down onto the spider. She sees it scurry away and curses.

 

“It’s there! Over there! It’s running!” Uta presses himself against the wall and Itori chases the arachnid across the apartment.

 

“Get it!” He screams. If she had been sitting on the side-lines, watching Renji run after the spider, she would have laughed. Unfortunately, she is the only one to protect the tattooed ghoul right at the moment, and it is not funny when she is the one who has to chase the creature, especially not in her state.

 

“I’m trying! It’s really quick!” She curses as he makes a turn and she misses it again with the broom. She’s a ghoul, one would think that she, with speed and strength at least seven times more than a human, would be able to catch the spider when a human can, easily.

 

“What, did you get slower just because _you can’t see your own feet?”_ She stops, and turns her head towards him slowly.

 

“Did you just call me… fat?” She asks slowly, but Uta is too creeped out to sense the danger and yells for her to kill the spider again. This time she does manage to hit it, and when she lifts the broom, one leg stretches out and twitches. She grabs some paper towels, wraps the corpse in it and throws it into the garbage. If Uta ever remembers that he might have insulted her or anything close to upsetting her, he doesn’t show it. That is fine, Itori thinks, as she leaves the apartment and goes shopping.

 

The next morning she gets up earlier than him, goes to the bathroom and returns, burrowing under the covers. Uta gets up some time later when the alarm clock rings, and shuffles out of the room. Itori makes herself comfortable and waits for it as she hears the shower starting up.

 

A high-pitched scream echoes throughout the apartment. Then it’s silent. Then…

 

 _“Itori!”_ She can hear him stomp towards the bedroom, and he looks absolutely horrified and pissed off as he holds a very realistic plastic spider at arm’s length from himself.

 

She is very pleased with his reaction.

 

“That’s what you get for calling me fat.”

 

“ _When_ did I call you _fat_?!”

 

“Yesterday.” Itori is glad even Uta has something that creeps him out. It’s easier to get back at him when he does or says something that annoys or angers her. She finds it hilarious though, that the great and unflappable No Face, terror of the fourth ward, is afraid of tiny little spiders.


End file.
